does Mac (OSX) support NTFS?

tbs · 25 Sep 2008 at 16:46

does Macs support NTFS or just normal FAT32? i just got a new external, and normally i use NTFS on Windows, so was wonder if NTFS would work once ive formatted it on that?

J1234 · 25 Sep 2008 at 16:47

It can read it, but not write to it. However there are 3rd party apps that will let you do this.

Have a look in here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17921015

tbs · 25 Sep 2008 at 17:10

why can it read but not write? does it only read and write on FAT32?

thats a bit strange, i would have thought theyd use NTFS too, seeing as its a tad faster.

LordSplodge · 25 Sep 2008 at 17:38

tbs said:
why can it read but not write? does it only read and write on FAT32?

thats a bit strange, i would have thought theyd use NTFS too, seeing as its a tad faster.

OS X uses Mac OS Extended Filesystem a Journaled file system much better than NTFS or FAT.

I believe the reason they can read but not write is that Microsoft has the license on that and Apple would have to pay big fees to them.

Unless you need Windows compatibility for the external drive use the native file system otherwise it's FAT all the way baby!

tbs · 25 Sep 2008 at 21:35

isnt NTFS better than FAT though? you dont need to defrag it as much as you would with FAT, and you get to fit much more on the HDD than you would with a FAT drive...

Will_3rd · 25 Sep 2008 at 21:36

It is, just on the Mac OSX side if you want cross-platform read/write access FAT32 is pretty much the only choice.

Slogan · 25 Sep 2008 at 21:42

Not forgetting the 4gb file size limit on FAT32.

tbs · 25 Sep 2008 at 22:19

ill just get NTFS 3G seeing as ill be using Windows and OSX, seems like a better choice

LordSplodge · 26 Sep 2008 at 09:27

tbs said:
isnt NTFS better than FAT though? you dont need to defrag it as much as you would with FAT, and you get to fit much more on the HDD than you would with a FAT drive...

NTFS is better than FAT in the same way that Chlamydia is better than AIDS!